Comparison of two minimally invasive restorative techniques in improving the oral health-related quality of life of pregnant women: a six months randomized controlled trial

Background: Women tend to delay dental treatment due to misconceptions regarding the safety of dental procedures during pregnancy which may negatively affect their quality of life. Minimally invasive restorative techniques offer alternatives for caries treatment and can improve their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) during this stage. Methods: A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted in 2019 and included 162 pregnant women visiting public family health centers in Alexandria, Egypt, with mild to moderate dental pain due to caries. Participants were randomly assigned into Papacarie-Duo group (n = 82) and ART group (n = 80). The outcome variable was percent change in OHRQoL (oral health impact profile, OHIP-14) after 6 months. T test/Mann Whitney U test were used to compare groups and a multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the factors affecting the outcome variable. Results: A significant reduction (P < 0.002) was noted in OHIP-14 between baseline and 6 months indicating improvement in OHRQoL in the Papacarie-Duo and ART groups (16.26% and 18.91%, P = 0.120 in bivariate analysis). Multiple linear regression revealed significantly greater reduction in OHIP-14 scores in the Papacarie-Duo than the ART group (regression coefficient = 4.03, 95% confidence interval: 0.652, 7.409, P = 0.020). Conclusion: Minimally invasive restorative techniques, such as ART and chemo-mechanical caries removal using Papacarie- Duo can improve the OHRQoL of pregnant women suffering from mild to moderate pain due to dental caries. Significantly more improvement was noted in the Papacarie-Duo group after adjusting all other variables.